It's Human, Ariel
by Silent Spirit 17
Summary: After becoming human, Ariel learns some things about her new body and it's more than just her legs.
1. Ariel's Morning Surprise

As the morning sunlight poured into the bedroom, Ariel awoke. She quickly shielded her eyes from the sunlight with her hand, forgetting for a split second that she was now on land. But only for a split second. Ariel sat up and removed the comforter. "Two legs," she whispered and wiggled her toes with a wide smile.

It had been a month since Ariel's father transformed her into a human and allowed her to live on land. Sometimes, Ariel still couldn't believe it was real. Of course, she missed the ocean and missed being around her family, but she'd finally gotten what she'd dreamed of so long. Not only was she finally part of the human world, but she also married the man she fell in love with upon first sight. With someone to share her human life with, there was really nothing else Ariel could think to ask for.

As Ariel turned to put her feet on the floor and stand up, she felt something funny. It felt a little sticky, a little..._wet_. Ariel stood up and gasped in horror when she saw what was in the spot she'd been sitting. Blood. The bedsheet had a big blood stain on it. Ariel then raced to the mirror and glanced at her backside. Blood was on her nightgown. The stain was even bigger than the the one on the sheet.

Ariel became frantic. Where did the blood come from? She hadn't injured herself, not even a tiny cut, so how could she be bleeding? Was this something humans did that she never learned when she was still a mermaid? Bleed spontaneously?

Ariel quickly grabbed a dress and undergarment from her drawer and raced to the bathroom to wash up and change into clean clothes. "Eric!" she thought. What would she tell Eric? What if this _wasn't_ something humans did and something was wrong with Ariel? What if she was sick? What if she was _dying_? These thoughts made Ariel cry. She hadn't been human for that long - only a month - and she already had a problem. She could only hope it wasn't as bad as she was imagining.

Soon, Ariel had cleaned herself up and felt a little better in her clean, blue dress. But she still had to tell Eric.

Ariel peeked into the bedroom. To her relief, Eric hadn't yet woken up. Perhaps she could remove the blood-stained bedsheet without disturbing him. As quiet as her dainty feet would allow her, Ariel walked over to the bed and slowly began pulling the sheet from underneath Eric. He stirred and moaned a little, but fortunately for Ariel, nothing more. She pulled the sheet off the bed and placed it with her blood-stained nightgown.

Ariel was too scared. She knew she had to tell Eric so he could help her, but she was afraid of what he would say. The thought of possibly being ill or dying ran through Ariel's mind again.

For the next few moments, she just stood there with wobbly legs and an anxious mind, mentally debating over whether or not to awaken Eric. She failed to notice that the dress she had just put on was also, albeit slowly, being stained by blood.


	2. Your Period

"Eric, wake up! Eric!"

Ariel had made up her mind to wake up Eric and tell him now instead of later. The sooner she learned what was wrong with her, the sooner she could get some relief. Putting it off would do no good for her nerves.

Eric sleepily rolled over and opened his eyes. He didn't seem to notice Ariel's facial expression.

"Good morning, Ariel. How are you?"

"Terrible," Ariel answered him, almost crying. "Eric, something is wrong with me!"

In an instant, Eric was wide awake and alert. "What do you mean something is wrong with you?" he asked. "Are you sick?"

"I think so," Ariel said. "I don't know if I'm sick or if I'm hurt."

"What exactly is wrong?" Eric asked, getting almost as frantic as Ariel had been. "Do you have a cold? Did you cut yourself?"

"I'm bleeding."

"Bleeding where?"

"I don't know where it's coming from," Ariel told him. "I don't have a cut anywhere. But when I woke up, the bedsheet and my nightgown were stained with blood."

"Wait, the bedsheet and your nightgown had blood on them, but you don't have a cut anywhere?"

"No."

Eric relaxed. He had an idea of what was happening. He told Ariel to turn around. She did and, just he thought, her dress had blood. Knowing the problem was, Eric smiled, much to Ariel's chargein, as she was still worried and confused, as well as upset about her dress and having to change again.

"What is it, Eric?"

"Your period."

"Huh? My...period?" The only period Ariel knew of was the kind that went at the end of word sentences and those sure as shellfish weren't what stained the sheet or her clothes.

Eric sighed. "It's hard to explain, but don't worry. You aren't sick," he assured her. "You're not ill and you're not injured. It's because you're a human now."

"So every human bleeds like this?" Ariel asked him.

"Every human _woman_, Ariel," Eric explained. "Like I said, it's hard to explain. Your body system to had to change when you became human, so you gained more than legs."

"What?"

"I don't think I'm the best person to explain this," Eric said. "Take off your dress, put a towel around yourself and sit on the bed for the time being and wait here. I'll be right back."

Eric left and Ariel did just has he instructed. She threw the blue dress in with the sheet and nightgown and got the two towels. She carefully wrapped the first one tight around her body and laid the second one on the bed. The towels would have to be washed with her clothes, but at least the bed would stay clean. She wondered where Eric was going, but more importantly, she was curious about this "every human woman bleeds" thing. She had a lot of questions about that.


	3. Carlotta Teaches Ariel

Eric walked through the huge halls and rooms of the castle. He knew who he was looking for, just not where she was at the minute. He passed Grimsby and asked him for a little help.

"I believe she's in the laundry room," Grimsby told him. "Whatever do you need?"

"It's about Ariel and it's kind of private," Eric replied before heading toward the laundry room.

Just as Grimsby said, she was there. Eric saw her as soon as he walked in.

"Carlotta!"

"Good morning, your highness," Carlotta greeted him. "How are you this fine day?"

"I'm alright, but Ariel needs some help," he told her. "You see, Ariel woke up this morning with her period."

"Oh, no problem!" Carlotta assured him. "Just tell her it happens to all us ladies. I'll go collect the sheets."

"Well, actually, I had a favor to ask of you," Eric explained. "Ariel has only been on land for a month. She didn't know human bodies beyond that they had legs. She thought she was ill. I was hoping you could explain to Ariel about her body and period."

For a moment, Carlotta blinked and then beamed. No one knew, but she had always wanted to teach somebody. Since she didn't have any children of her own, she never got the chance. Not to mention that it was the princess! To be asked to teach the princess made Carlotta feel like a princess herself.

"So will you talk to Ariel?" Eric asked, interrupting her thoughts.

"Certainly!" Carlotta beamed.

Eric led Carlotta back to his and Ariel's bedroom, where he found Ariel lying down with her hand on her stomach. "Ariel, are you cold?"

"No," she answered. "My stomach hurts."

"That's also to do with your period," Eric told her.

"Eric, I don't like this period thing!" Ariel complained. "How do I make it stop?"

"You can't. Listen. Carlotta's going to explain all about it. Listen to what she says, okay?"

"Okay," Ariel said, a little calmer. Deciding it was better to leave Ariel alone, Eric took the blood-stained sheets and clothing to the laundry room.

"Firstly, why don't we get you dressed?" Carlotta suggested.

"No, I already ruined my nightgown and one of my dresses," Ariel explained. "I don't want to ruin another one."

"You won't. I will give you something to stop the blood from ruining your dress," Carlotta told her. She then took Ariel into the bathroom and helped her undress. She then gave Ariel what appeared to be, in Ariel's words, a tissue strip cloth. "It's called a sanitary napkin," she explained to the confused princess. "Or a pad. You have to place it in your undergarment."

Ariel felt awkward, but she followed what Carlotta said. "It feels weird," Ariel told her. "But kind of better."

"Good." Carlotta and Ariel went back to the bed. Ariel sat down slowly, not wanting her pad to move. "So is there anything you want to know first?"

"I want to know everything!" Ariel answered. "But first, I want to know if Eric's right. Do all human women do this? Mermaids sure don't bleed from their tails!"

"That's true," Carlotta agreed. "This does happen to all human women and that includes me. It happens every month."

"Every month?!" Ariel shrieked. She could've shaken the castle with her scream. "I don't want to bleed every month! That's terrible!"

Carlotta thought of a quick response, hoping to calm Ariel down. "It's actually a very good thing. It means your body is working normally."

"Really?" Ariel asked. "But where does the period blood come from?"

"Do you know what organs are?"

"Of course!" Ariel replied. "Heart, lungs, brain, live, stomach. Those are the ones I can think of off the top of my head."

"That's good!" Carlotta praised her. "Well, there is an organ below your stomach call a uterus."

"Uterus?" Ariel repeated.

"Yes, and that's where the blood comes from," Carlotta explained. "It's a cycle your body goes through called menstruation."

"Menstruation," Ariel repeated, sounding out the word.

Carlotta chuckled good-heartedly. She was really going to have to tell Ariel everything.


	4. An Illustration

"Umm, Carlotta, what are you doing?" Ariel asked as she sat by patiently.

"I think this will make things a little easier to understand, your highness," Carlotta replied. "I'm almost done with it."

Carlotta was drawing out a picture with pen and paper. Since Ariel knew so little, it was going to be hard to be explain everything with just words. Carlotta thought that if she drew an illustration, Ariel could understand a little easier.

A few more minutes passed and Carlotta was done. Her drawing wasn't perfect, but it was good enough that Ariel could know what it was once she explained.

"Okay. Are you ready, your highness?" She showed Ariel the picture.

"Is that the mens-soo...mens-sol...mens..." Ariel had forgotten how to pronounce the word

"Menstruation," Carlotta corrected her slowly. "That's cycle of your period. This picture here is the organ called uterus. The organ you bleed from."

Ariel took the picture from Carlotta's hands and looked at it skeptically. "That's what it looks?"

"More or less."

Ariel pointed to the circles on the end. "What are these big, round balls?"

"Those are called ovaries," Carlotta answered. "And what they are attached to are called Fallopian tubes."

"And what do they do? Do they make the blood come out?"

Carlotta chuckled a bit. "Not exactly, your majesty. It's sort of a long explanation."

"I'm listening," Ariel said. "Please, tell me."

Carlotta took the picture back from Ariel and, to illustrate what she was talking about, pointed things on the picture out as she spoke.

"Your ovaries contain thousands of tiny eggs. Every month, it releases an egg and the egg travels through the Fallopian tube. The egg comes to a nest made up of blood and tissue. Since there is nothing for the egg, the nest is useless and breaks down. And that's how your period happens."

Ariel thought it over. It all sounded so strange, almost incomprehensible. She wasn't sure she could wrap her mind around it. Carlotta purposefully explained it in a juvenile way for that reason.

"Carlotta, where's the tissue?" Ariel asked. "I only have blood."

"Tissue in your blood is different from the tissue you know of," Carlotta explained.

"Okay. So why does my body do this every month?"

"It means that part of your body is functioning properly," Carlotta told her. "If you didn't get your period, that would be bad."

Ariel shuddered. "How bad? Would I die?"

"No! You wouldn't die!" Carlotta assured her. "But it would mean you're sick. The only way not having your period would be good is if you were pregnant. You can't have your period if you're pregnant because the nest is being used."

"What's pregnant?" Ariel asked, immediately grasping the new word.

Carlotta hadn't realized what she said would add to Ariel's curiosity. It looks like her teaching wasn't done yet.

"If you're pregnant, that means you will have a baby."

"A baby?! Really?!" Ariel beamed with sudden cheerfulness.

"You want to have a child, your highness?" Carlotta asked.

"Maybe not now," Ariel replied. "I need to learn everything first. But someday."

Ariel was excited now. She was bouncing on the bed, not even thinking about her pad or her dress. Carlotta didn't know of that desire, but she remembered being excited over the thought of becoming a mother herself years ago.

After Ariel calmed down, she pleaded, "Tell me, Carlotta. Tell me everything about how to have a baby. How do I tell my uterus to have a baby? I want to know for when I'm ready. Please tell me!"

"You can't create a child alone," Carlotta told her, trying to tone down her excitement. "You need Eric's help."

Ariel smiled, this time, knowingly. "I know that! Merfolk are that way too. A mermaid needs a merman's help to make a baby. But how does it work up here?"

Even after everything she'd already said, Carlotta was still enthralled by Ariel's inquisitiveness. This was a talk she imagined having with her own children, not the princess, but she was happy to tell. She only felt bad for the awkwardness and discomfort she was about to cause Ariel.


End file.
